Archive for: November 2007

According to a recent Marchex report, small businesses are not establishing a web presence as quickly as customers online are looking for their products and services.  It’s not that small businesses aren’t spending marketing dollars, they are just not spending very many of them online.  The report stated that small businesses will spend more than $100 billion on promoting locally, but only 5% of that money will be spent on web and online marketing.

In fact, the second-most common web activity today is customers searching for products and services online, second only to using email. Since it appears that your customers are already looking for you on the web, make sure that your marketing mix includes online strategies to help your customers find you, instead of your competitors.

Online marketing is more than just banner ads or pay-per-click campaigns. It involves investing in strategies that strengthen your web site and overall internet presence.  Here are some marketing strategies that you can use to improve your company’s online results:

• “Friendly” Web Pages – Make sure you site can be read by the search engine spiders and included in the search engine databases
• Optimization – Use quality sources to research and select appropriate keywords for your business, and optimize your site for keyword use, densities, meta data, internal linking structures, etc.
• Inbound Links – Build an inbound linking program to create “votes” for your web site in the eyes of the search engines (especially Google)
• Relevant Content – Be sure that your web site content is informative, interesting, and useful to your visitors
• E-Newsletters and E-Campaigns – Use the power of the web to promote your business and reach your customers and prospects through various email techniques
• Internet Trends - pay attention to new technologies like web video and blogs, since visitors expect this type of functionality from business web sites today

Using the internet in your marketing mix is not only highly effective and measurable, but it is also very affordable compared with old-style media like TV, radio, newspapers, and magazine ads.   By using email marketing tactics, keeping your web site information up to date, and adding new web features and technology, you can reach potential customers quickly and establish additional credibility for your company.  So when you’re planning for next year’s marketing budget, be sure to consider using online marketing strategies as part of your overall marketing mix.

Most small businesses know that driving traffic to their web site is the first step to web success. However, it is no longer enough to simply drive traffic to your web site. In today’s web environment, you must also make sure that once visitors arrive at your site, they “stick” long enough to absorb your marketing message, are encouraged to click around for more information, and are ultimately motivated to take action, all in approximately four seconds. According to recent research by Akamai Technologies, 75% of surveyed customers said they would not return to a web site if it took more than four seconds to load. Four seconds! That’s not very much time to expose visitors to your small business and all it has to offer!

 
For small businesses to effectively compete in this ever-changing, cluttered web environment, it’s important that they consider using the latest interactive technologies on their web sites. One such technique, called a “microsite,” is emerging as a powerful strategy that small businesses can use to attract new visitors, generate new leads, encourage visitors to spend time on the web site, and ultimately turn potential customers into buyers. 

 
So what is a microsite? 
A microsite is a new twist on the tried-and-true technique of web site “Landing Pages.” With a microsite, a business creates a group of highly personalized web pages that are designed to appeal to a particular buyer segment. For instance, a construction company could create a microsite (group of specifically targeted web pages) to address the needs of residential clients that contains different information from the web content presented to commercial businesses. By using a microsite, companies can provide visitors with exactly the information they are looking for, and also gather information from prospects that applies directly to their needs and interests. 

 
A Versatile Strategy
Microsites can also be developed to work with a specific promotion, such as an email campaign or post card mailer, which leads visitors directly to information related to the campaign. If a heating and cooling company is promoting winter furnace maintenance, it could create a microsite that completely skips information about air conditioners and focuses only on the furnace products and services that are currently on sale. 

 
Target Information = Better Conversion
Because microsites are so highly targeted, they are an effective way to provide the right information to web site visitors right when they are looking for it, often producing more qualified leads and improved web conversion rates. Microsites can also provide small businesses with the valuable customer data they need to build strong, lasting relationships with their prospects. 

 
To compete on the web today, small businesses may want to consider adding an interactive technology like microsites to provide visitors with targeted, relevant information as quickly as possible. After all, four seconds goes by fast!